Is it legal for minors to carry knives?

J

JohnWean

Joined
Aug 5, 2004
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To put it bluntly: I live in a bad neighborhood.

I try to avoid trouble so I can graduate from high school and get into a college. Unfortunately, sometimes trouble finds me. Apparently, it is legal to carry a folder in California. I want to know if it is legal for a minor (me) to carry a folding knife.
 
I believe so...there shouldn't be any problems with it. Just remember, utility use...

I'm just turned 16, and have been EDCing a variety of folders for a year or so. No problems here.
 
I started carrying a CS recon 1 tanto when i was 16, 18 now. And the guy i bought it from had a copy of the CA penal code on the counter for anyone that had questions.

The short of it is that all manually operated folding knives with a spring used to hold the balde closed is legal. Autos, gravity and "inertia" knives are not a good idea to carry. But since you're a minor you wouldn't be able to but them anyway.

Now depending on where you live there can be issues with the county and then there are places where no one can carry. IE: fed buildings, courthouses, and airports. I thyink you need a 2"or shorter blade on university areas.

But I would not recommend carrying something like the Spyderco civilian or Martriarch, CS Vaquero series, or andthing else that screams "not for utility!"

It would be hard to sell that to a cop it he asked why you were carrying it. Also go here and print off and carry with you the laws for CA. These are the penal codes refering to knives. It tells whats illegal. So if what you're carrying doesn't go against any of them. The police have 0 reason to arrest you for having it. And you have proof with you to edgeucate any officer that doesn't know the law. Even though it is kinda his job. ;)

http://pweb.netcom.com/~brlevine/sta-law.htm#A-H
 
I hate to say it this way.....but the best rule, is this rule of thumb:

Don't carry a knife anywhere, anyplace, anytime you think you could be caught with it.


That said, do carry a knife everywhere else. :D


Won't matter what knife you have, if you are caught with it while merely "exhibiting suspicious behaviour" - it'll get confiscated and you'll get slapped with a penalty. Happens all the time, especially in CA. Here on BFC there are accounts of knives being confiscated where the person holding it wasn't even suspected. Just happened to be along for the ride.

One was in a car caught speeding. Car got searched, passenger had to give up his knife.

Another account was a car full of kids that was driving by a fight scene and the cops thought they came to "join in". Stopped, searched & confiscated.


On the other hand, if you keep your nose clean and avoid certain places (use common sense) you don't really have to worry about it.
 
Hey John, I live in California and carry a SOG Flash II along with some other SAK with me almost all the time. I'm not a lawyer but as long as you don't project a nasty image it'll be fine.
 
okay, maybe this is a stupid answer to the question to ask another question - but is pepper spray illegeal in CA? I found by carrying that on my keychain i felt a lot more secure then then with the spyderco delica that I wouldnt know how to USE to defend myself anyway. (other then to wave it around) I LOVE my Spyderco, but knew my limitations.
And if not pepper spray there are alternatives too.
After 9/11 I had to fly. (we are talking 9/19) and I KNEW i couldnt carry anything that I normally boarded with, but wanted some protection. I got a trial size bottle of hair spray and refilled it with something much nastier. I also carried a comb with a really pointy end to it. They wouldnt let my manicure kit board but they didnt think to look at combs.
If you can't carry a knife - or don't know how to handle one in a knife fight situation think of alternatives. Or take some classes and get some moves behind you.
 
Okay,youve gotten all the pc correct advice,now for some bad advice :) Carry whenever and wherever you want,the bad guys will anyway.If for some reason you get caught with it,just hand it over take your fine go home and get your extra one and start carrying it.
 
I was a few years younger once and had this same problem. At school I forced myself to leave my knife in the car. Otherwise I carried a knife discretely (i.e. I never pulled it unless I was going to use it) and still do.
 
In Calif., if you as a student, bring a knife and leave it in your car, your car can't be parked on school grounds since you would have then brought the forbidden item on school grounds, making the student liable for expulsion under the no exceptions enforcement throughout the state.

Hank :cool:
 
The real problem in California is that the bad guys mostly have guns and will shoot you if you piss them off. When we moved out of LA to Boulder, Colorado by son noticed a strange behaviour. In Boulder some guys would go to football games and pick fights. Where he went to school in LA that would never happen. You would get shot the first time you tried that.

Get yourself into some magnet school and hang out at the library. Look poor--don't show off valuables. Try and avoid problems, since problems seem to have friends. Let it be known that you are a fire bug and like to make nitroglycerine in the kitchen sink.
 
HAHA, When my mom was in high school a couple of kids did make some nitro in the Chem lab sink. When they heard someone coming they poured it down the drain...


East wings for a high school are expensive. :rolleyes:
 
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